Key events
Sheff Utd v Ipswich team news
Sheff Utd Cooper, Seriki, McGuinness, Mee, McCallum, Peck, Tom Davies, Brooks, Hamer, O’Hare, Bamford.
Subs: Adam Davies, Arblaster, Cannon, Hoever, Burrows, Campbell, Chong, Matos, Sasnauskas.
Ipswich Walton, Furlong, O’Shea, Kipre, Greaves, Matusiwa, Taylor, Walle, Szmodics, Clarke, Hirst.
Subs: Palmer, Johnson, Baggott, Davis, Cajuste, Burns, McAteer, Mehmeti, Azon.
Referee Tom Nield (West Yorkshire)
Championship
A couple of thumping home victories in the lunchtime games.
This is what it does to the table.
Full time: West Ham 3-1 Sunderland
Back-to-back wins for West Ham, who are now just two points behind 17th-placed Nottingham Forest in the table. Forest have a tricky game away to Brentford tomorrow.
Full time: Chelsea 0-2 Arsenal
A fabulous result for Arsenal – and Manchester City, who will go nine points clear at the top of the WSL if they beat London City Lionesses tomorrow.
Beth Mead and Mariona Caldentey scored the goals for a very impressive Arsenal, who themselves more to within a point of Chelsea.
Bromley v Swindon team news
Bromley Smith, Samuel, Sowunmi, Cameron, Odutayo, Charles, Whitely, Krauhaus, Arthurs, Pinnock, Cheek.
Subs: Long, Jenkinson, Thompson, Kabamba, Hondermarck, Ajayi, Ilunga.
Swindon Ripley, Ball, Wright, Tafazolli, Wilson-Brown, Nichols, Borland, Kilkenny, Drinan, Palmer, Holman.
Subs: Ward, Snowdon, Middlemas, Olakigbe, McGregor, Kirkman, Oldaker.
Referee James Oldham (England)
Hull v Swansea team news
Hull Pandur, Coyle, Hughes, Egan, Famewo, Hadziahmetovic, Slater, Joseph, Gelhardt, Millar, McBurnie.
Subs: Phillips, Lundstram, Akintola, Hirakawa, Jacob, Ndala, Crooks, Dowell, McCarthy.
Swansea Bigraith, Galbraith, Cabango, Bourgess, Tymon, Fulton, Ronald, Franco, Kullen, Eom, Vipotnik.
Subs: Fisher, Key, Stamenic, Widell, Yalcouye, Nunes Gomes, Wales, Ward, Cooper.
Referee Josh Smith (Lincolnshire)
Jamie Jackson
Pep Guardiola has dropped Erling Haaland and Phil Foden to the bench for this afternoon’s visit of Wolves to the Etihad Stadium, the manager selecting Marc Guehi to give the £20m defender a Manchester City debut.
Excluding Haaland and Foden from the XI is a big deal and at the same time no massive surprise. Big because they are two of Guardiola’s main acts but no great surprise because, as outlined here, they are each badly out of form.
The surprise, to this correspondent, is that Rodri retains his place as he was the poorest of the three in Tuesday’s 3-1 hammering by Bodo/Glimt in the Arctic Circle on Tuesday. But as Nico Gonzalez, his deputy is injured, there was maybe no choice.
Burney v Tottenham Hotspur team news
No surprise that Scott Parker sticks with the Burnley side that drew at Anfield. Thomas Frank brings in some of the players who were unavailale for Spurs’ victory over Borussia Dortmund in midweek: Micky van de Ven, Yves Bissouma and Conor Gallagher replace Destiny Udogie, Archie Gray and the injured Lucas Bergvall.
Burnley (3-4-2-1) Dubravka; Tuanzebe, Esteve, Humphreys; Walker, Ugochukwu, Florentino, Lucas Pires; Edwards, Anthony; Numbers.
Subs: Weiss, Bruun Larsen, Foster, Tchaouna, Ekdal, Sonne, Mejbri, Laurent, Barnes.
Tottenham Hotspur (poss 4-2-3-1) Vicarious; Porro, Danso, Romero, Van de Ven; Bissouma, Gallagher; Odobert, Simons, Spence; Solanke.
Subs: Kinsky, Dragusin, Tel, Udogie, Gray, Muani, Scarlett, Byfield, Williams-Barnet.
Referee Peter Bankes (Merseyside)
Man City v Wolverhampton team news
Marc Guehi goes straight into City’s starting line-up; Erling Haaland and Phil Foden are among those on the bench. Wolves bring in John Arias for Tolu Arokodare.
Man City (4-3-3) Donnarumma; Matheus Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O’Reilly; Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Reijnders; Cherki, Marmoush, Semenyo.
Subs: Traffford, Ake, Wanand, Doku, Ait Nouri, Fooden, Tree, Alleyne, Lewis.
Wolverhampton (3-5-2) Jose Sa; Mosquera, S Bueno, Krejci; Tchatchoua, Joao Gomes, Andre, Mane, H Bueno; Arias, Hwang.
Subs: Johnstone, Doherty, Wolfe, Larsen, Agbadou, Arokodare, Pedro Lima, Rodrigo Gomes, Lopez.
Referee Farai Hallam (Surrey)
Fulham v Brighton team news
Kevin and Alex Iwobi come into the Fulham XI. Brighton bring in Olivier Boscagli, Carlos Baleba and Age Setting. It’s not clear who will start at right-back for them, possibly Pascal Gross.
Fulham (4-2-3-1) Leno; Castagne, Andersen, Cuenca, Robinson; Iwobi, Berge; Wilson, Smith Rowe, Kevin; Jimenez.
SBS: The Comma, Bassey, Reed, Cairney, Kusi-Sare, Chukwueze, King, Sessegnon, Diop.
Brighton (poss 4-2-3-1) Verbruggen; Gross, Van Hecke, Dunk, Boscagli; Behold, it was; Kadioglu, Gomez, Mitoma; Welbeck.
Subs: Steele, Rutter, Minteh, Hinshelwood, Kostoulas, Milner, De Cuyper, Veltman, Coppola.
Referee Michael Oliver (Northumberland)
GOAL! West Ham 3-1 Sunderland (Brobbey 66)
Brian Brobbey has given Sunderland a whiff of hope at the London Stadium.
GOALS! Tommy Conway has scored his second to make it Middlesbrough 4-0 Preston in the Championship. And in the big WSL game, Mariona Caldentey has doubled Arsenal’s lead at Stamford Bridge.
50 min: Cardiff 1-1 Stockport There was a 15-minute delay in this game after Cardiff’s star forward Yousef Salech suffered a nasty head injury. He needed oxygen on the field and was eventually stretchered off. We don’t have any further news but will keep you posted.
League One
Three of the top four teams are in action this lunchtime. Cardiff (1st) are drawing 1-1 at home to Stockport (4th), while Bradford (3rd) are a goal down at Huddersfield (7th at the start of play).
Will Unwin
Burnley v Tottenham (3pm)
It is bitterly cold at Turf Moor, where a Burnley side without a win in 13 Premier League matches host the under pressure Thomas Frank and his Tottenham side. Last week’s defeat to West Ham, who start the day one place above the Lancashire club in the relegation zone, felt like a new low for the Dane but a loss here could be the nadir. Few hold out hope of Burnley mounting a serious survival bid, further hindered by a very quiet January, so two defeats in a row to struggling sides will not support the idea that Frank can turn things around.
The good news is that 10-man Borussia Dortmund were brushed aside in the Champions League to alleviate some of the mounting scrutiny. It felt last Sunday that Frank would be out of the job and an interim be left in charge. But he is here and a second victory in four days would provide the breathing space Frank desperately wants.
Women’s Super League
There’s been a goal in the big game at Stamford Bridge. If you don’t want to know how scored it, don’t click this.
Premier League
West Ham’s survival charge is under way. After winning at Spurs last week, they put three past Sunderland in the first half at the London Stadium. Dominic Booth is following that one.
Championship
Promotion-chasing Middlesbrough are cruising to victory over Preston at the Riverside. Alan Browne, Tommy Conway and Morgan Whittaker scored in the first half; Preston have just had Jordan Storey sent off early in the second half.
Preamble
Helo, good afternoon and welcome another heaving plate of vaguely edible tasty Saturday afternoon football. There are three 3pm games in the Premier League, with Manchester City v Wolves the most relevant to the title race. It’s a reflection of the form of both teams that 2nd v 20th doesn’t quite feel like a home banker.
City should win, and probably will, but they’ve had a miserable start to 2026. Wolves have been playing some good stuff under Rob Edwards, inspired by the exciting Mateus Mane, and came close to taking a point from the Emirates at Anfield just before Christmas.
Wolves’ upturn in form is too late to save them from relegation. The team in 19th, Burnley, are running out of time and could really do with taking three points at home to Spurs this afternoon. The other match is between two of the Premier League’s quiet overachievers, Fulham and Brighton.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the lunchtime games, including Chelsea v Arsenal in the WSL, and a handful of matches in the EFL. The top two in League Two, Bromley and Swindon, meet at Hayes Lane.
These are our featured games, all 3pm kick-offs unless stated.
Premier League
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West Ham 3-0 Sunderland (12.30pm)
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Burnley v Tottenham
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Fulham v Brighton
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Man City v Wolves
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Bournemouth v Liverpool (5.30pm)
Women’s Super League
Championship
League One
League Two
Bundesliga
